Hm, that teenager looks like someone's dad... Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the actors who tapped into their inner child to play a character much younger than they were.
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00:00Sandy!
00:03Tell me about it.
00:04Stay.
00:05Welcome to WatchMojo.
00:07And today we're counting down our picks for the actors who tapped into their inner child to play a character much younger than they were.
00:13What are you doing here?
00:14I work here.
00:15I don't work here.
00:16I was gonna say I work here, but it seems like you in fact do work here, so you know that I don't in fact work here.
00:22Number 30, Kenny Wormald, Footloose.
00:24This multi-talented actor already had a successful career as a dancer,
00:28even touring with Justin Timberlake when he was cast to play Ren McCormick in the Footloose remake.
00:41When filming began in September 2010, Wormald was already 26 years old, at least 8 years older than his character.
00:48It's pretty common for actors in their 20s to play high schoolers.
00:51In fact, Wormald wasn't even the oldest of his co-stars.
00:54Patrick Pflueger, who plays Ren's romantic rival Chuck, is about 7 months older than Wormald.
00:59For a movie like Footloose, we don't care how old the actors are, as long as they can dance.
01:16Born in 1972, Blair was 26 years old when this movie was released in March 1999.
01:22She was the oldest of the four actors who played the leads, with the others ranging from 2 to 5 years younger than her.
01:39Her character Cecile is extremely naive, and has never even been in a classroom with boys before.
01:45Blair plays the innocent Cecile extremely convincingly.
01:48She's actually totally believable as a high schooler.
01:53I'm so proud of you.
01:55I am?!
01:57Cecile!
01:58Considering how sexualized and exploited her character is in the film,
02:02we'd say it's a good thing the producers didn't cast an actual teenager to play her.
02:09This retelling of Romeo and Juliet takes place during a zombie apocalypse.
02:13Palmer plays Julie, a 19-year-old girl who's just trying to survive, but ends up falling for a zombie named R.
02:20Stay together.
02:22Promise.
02:25I promise.
02:26Palmer was 25 and a half years old when Warm Bodies began shooting in September 2011,
02:31almost three years older than her co-star Nicholas Holt.
02:34We can imagine that living in constant fear of being eaten would age a person pretty fast,
02:39so casting older actors makes sense in this case.
02:41That said, Palmer pretty easily passes for a teenager in the movie.
02:45You don't want to know what it was.
02:48You don't want your old life back?
02:50No.
02:52I want this one.
02:57My mom always said life was like a box of chocolates.
03:04You never know what you're gonna get.
03:06When a movie takes place over a long period in a character's life, the creators have to make a tough decision.
03:11Should they cast one actor to play the role or multiple actors of different ages?
03:16Forrest Gump follows the title character from his early childhood until he's in his late 30s.
03:21Child actor Michael Connor Humphries plays young Forrest, but Hanks plays him from high school on.
03:26Hanks was born in 1956, meaning he was 37 when filming took place in 1993.
03:32The movie only includes one scene of Forrest in high school, but it does follow him pretty closely throughout his 20s.
03:38That there is Forrest Gump.
03:42Just a local idiot.
03:44And can you believe it?
03:46I got to go to college too.
03:48Hanks looks great for his age, but we're not sure he can pass for someone 20 years younger.
04:08Sometimes casting an older actor to play a teenager works out, and sometimes it's a bad idea.
04:14Platt originated the role of Evan Hansen on Broadway, and since his dad is a movie producer,
04:19it's no surprise that he was cast as the lead in the film.
04:22However, he turned 27 during filming, which is pretty old to be playing a high schooler.
04:28The hairstyle and the heavy makeup he's wearing also aren't doing him any favors.
04:32But he kept it all inside his head.
04:37What he saw, he left unsaid.
04:41Worst of all, Caitlin Dever, who plays Evan's love interest, actually does look like a teenager,
04:46despite being 24 when filming wrapped.
04:49That makes this relationship look a lot creepier than it's supposed to.
04:54Sir Darius Blaine, Jumanji, Welcome to the Jungle.
04:57This sequel to the 1995 Robin Williams classic follows four high schoolers
05:01who get sucked into the world of Jumanji and find themselves transformed into video game avatars.
05:12Blaine plays Anthony Fridge Johnson at the beginning and end of the film,
05:16while Kevin Hart takes over for most of the runtime.
05:19At the time of filming in late 2016, Blaine was 29.
05:23His co-stars, on the other hand, were actually teenagers,
05:26making Blaine 10 to 12 years older than them.
05:29Since Anthony is a football player known for his size,
05:32casting an older actor wasn't a crazy idea.
05:35We think Blaine pulls off the role of a high school kid pretty convincingly.
05:50What's up with your pops?
05:51Yo, you know how it is, man. How much more trouble can I get into?
05:54Beatdown's a beatdown.
05:55This classic comedy follows a group of high schoolers who throw a rager
05:58while one student's parents are out of town.
06:00It was so successful, it spawned four sequels and a 2023 reboot.
06:05Christopher, Kid, Reed, and Christopher play Martin play the leads,
06:09though neither was especially close to high school age at the time.
06:13When the film was released in March 1990,
06:15Reed was about to turn 26 and Martin was almost 28.
06:19However, we would argue that the actors' ages matter even less in this movie
06:23than they usually do.
06:24Audiences watch the House Party franchise for the music,
06:27dancing, and outrageous comedic antics, not the realism.
06:41If you're a fan of this timeless classic,
06:43you might be surprised to learn that the main character,
06:45Holly Golightly, is only 19 years old.
06:48You might be even more surprised to hear that Audrey Hepburn was 31
06:51at the time of filming.
07:01Prior to the events of the film,
07:02Holly escaped from a marriage to a much older man
07:05and fled from Texas to New York.
07:07There, she becomes a popular socialite bent on marrying someone rich.
07:11Holly seems so worldly that it's hard to imagine she's just a teenager.
07:15On the other hand, Hepburn is so youthful and beautiful,
07:18no one would guess that she's over 30.
07:25Regardless of her age, it's impossible to picture anyone else in the role.
07:33In this coming-of-age story from novelist Jane Austen,
07:35three sisters navigate romance and family drama in early 19th century England.
07:40Eleanor is the oldest at 19,
07:42followed by 16-year-old Marianne and 13-year-old Margaret.
07:45However, the age gap between the actresses playing them was considerably larger.
07:50When filming started, Thompson, who plays Eleanor, had just turned 36,
07:54meaning she was almost twice her character's age.
08:06Meanwhile, Kate Winslet, who plays Marianne, was only 19,
08:09and Miriam Francois was actually younger than her character at 12 years old.
08:13In interviews, Thompson has revealed that director Ang Lee criticized her for appearing too old.
08:18Considering that he was the one who pushed her to take the part,
08:21we'd say he should get over it.
08:34The character of Andy might only be 16 years old,
08:37but when Paul Rudd filmed the part in 2000, he was 31.
08:50In fact, none of the actors playing camp counselors in this teen sex comedy throwback were actually teenagers.
08:55That's definitely a good thing considering how raunchy the film gets.
08:58Since it's common knowledge that Paul Rudd doesn't age,
09:01you could argue that it doesn't matter how old he is no matter what part he's playing.
09:05In this case, he doesn't really look like a teenager,
09:08but he plays the character with such childish immaturity that we could almost believe he's actually 16.
09:14Can I talk to you for a second?
09:15Sure.
09:16Okay, well...
09:17Time's up.
09:18You said a second.
09:20I wanna ask you something.
09:21So you wanna talk for more than a second?
09:32We don't know if we'd call a 22-year-old a kid, but whatever.
09:35The Karate Kid is one of the most famous movies from the 80s,
09:38and it stars Ralph Macchio as the Karate Kid himself, Daniel LaRusso.
09:45Wax off.
09:47It's established in the film that Daniel is 17 years old.
09:50Filming of the movie commenced on Halloween 1983 and wrapped the following December.
09:55Macchio was born on November 4th, 1961, meaning he turned 22 just after filming began.
10:02That's only a five-year difference,
10:04but when it means the difference between high school graduation and college graduation,
10:08it's quite a bit.
10:15Hi, kid.
10:16Remember, always look both ways before crossing.
10:19Mother!
10:20Johnny Depp was playing teenagers back in 1984 when he starred in A Nightmare on Elm Street.
10:25Six years later, he was still playing teens.
10:281990 saw the release of the cult classic John Waters film Crybaby,
10:32which sees Depp playing the teenage rebel leader of a local greaser gang.
10:36Crybaby wants some booze.
10:37I don't drink and drive.
10:39Crybaby premiered in Baltimore in March 1990
10:42before receiving a wide release the following month.
10:45Depp was born in June of 1963,
10:48meaning he was just two months shy of his 27th birthday when the movie released wide.
10:52Playing a teenager in your early 20s is one thing,
10:55but Depp was closer to 30 than 20.
10:58One single salty tear is all they'll ever suck out of this Crybaby.
11:07Jennifer Grey enjoyed a stellar one-two punch in the mid-80s
11:17with Ferris Bueller's Day Off in 1986 and Dirty Dancing in 1987.
11:22The latter was particularly successful,
11:24grossing about three times as much as Ferris Bueller.
11:27The movie was filmed in both Virginia and North Carolina throughout the fall of 1986.
11:31Jennifer Grey was born on March 26, 1960,
11:35making her 26 years old throughout filming.
11:44Baby is due to start college in the movie,
11:46meaning she's around 17 or 18,
11:48making Grey nearly a full decade older than her on-screen character.
11:57When Julia Stiles played 17-year-old Sarah Johnson in Save the Last Dance,
12:01she actually was a teenager.
12:04Born March 28, 1981, she was 19 at the time.
12:08But that wasn't the case for her co-star Sean Patrick Thomas,
12:11who played a high school senior and college hopeful named Derek Reynolds.
12:20Born on December 17, 1970,
12:23Thomas had just turned 30 when the movie was released on January 12, 2001.
12:27We don't know if anyone bought him as a high school senior,
12:30but either way, that is one major age discrepancy.
12:44Released in May of 1996,
12:46The Craft follows a group of outcast high school students
12:49who begin to experiment with witchcraft.
12:51And the film contains a certifiable who's who of mid-90s stars,
12:55including Skeet Ulrich,
12:57Also starring in the movie is Rachel True as Rochelle Zimmerman,
13:01an African-American student who's bullied by the popular white girls.
13:13True was born on November 15, 1966,
13:16making her 29 years old when The Craft was released in May 1996.
13:20She was by far the oldest member of the core cast.
13:23Upon the movie's premiere,
13:25Robin Tunney was 23,
13:27Campbell was 22,
13:29and Balk was 21,
13:31albeit just a few weeks away from turning 22.
13:45Along with Dirty Dancing,
13:47Footloose was the big dancing movie craze of the 1980s.
13:50It stars Kevin Bacon as a hip teenager named Ren McCormick.
13:54Ren is from Chicago,
13:56and when he moves to the rural town of Beaumont with his mother,
13:59he attempts to overrule the local minister's ban on both dancing and rock music.
14:09Filming took place around Utah throughout much of the latter half of 1983,
14:13before the movie was released in February of 84.
14:16Star Kevin Bacon was born on July 8, 1958,
14:20and he turned 25 years old shortly after filming commenced in May of 1983.
14:37Michael J. Fox is awesome,
14:39and he was spectacular as Marty McFly,
14:42but he was kinda pushing believability by the end.
14:45Fox was born on June 9, 1961,
14:48meaning he had just turned 24 when the first Back to the Future was released in July of 1985.
14:57Back to the Future Part III came out five years later,
15:00but Marty remained the same age.
15:02The third movie was released on May 25, 1990,
15:05just a few short weeks before Fox's 29th birthday.
15:09Imagining a mid-20s Fox as a high school student was easy enough,
15:13but things started to get a little tricky once he was pushing 30.
15:19Where you going now? Back to the future!
15:26This controversial film from Stanley Kubrick
15:28follows the exploits of a hyper-violent teenager and his gang of friends.
15:32Although the character of Alex DeLarge is only 15 in Anthony Burgess' original novel,
15:36he was aged up slightly for the film.
15:38What we're after now was the old surprise visit.
15:42That was a real kick, and good for laughs and lashings of the old ultra-violent.
15:48It's never revealed exactly how old he is, but we know he's still in high school.
15:52Malcolm McDowell, on the other hand, was 27 at the time of filming.
15:56Although Alex is the youngest member of his gang,
15:58McDowell is the oldest of the four actors who play them.
16:12In fact, he is a full 10 years older than Michael Tarn, who played Pete.
16:16That said, McDowell's baby face and small frame
16:19actually make him pretty believable as a teenager.
16:36This cult classic comedy follows a Californian cheerleading team,
16:40the San Diego Toros, as they compete against their rivals,
16:43the East Compton Clovers.
16:45Leading the Toros is Torrance Shipman, played by Kirsten Dunst,
16:48and leading the Clovers is Isis, played by Gabrielle Union.
16:58The movie was released on August 25, 2000, a few months after Dunst turned 18.
17:03However, Gabrielle Union was born in October of 1972,
17:07meaning she was just a couple of months shy of her 28th birthday.
17:11In reality, these two high school cheerleaders are a decade apart in age.
17:15Hey, I just want to say, you know, captain to captain,
17:17I respect what you guys did out there.
17:19You guys were good.
17:20Thanks.
17:21You were better.
17:23We were, huh?
17:39According to the Harry Potter Wiki,
17:41Myrtle Warren, or Moaning Myrtle as her ghost would later be known,
17:44was just 14 years old when she was killed by the Basilisk.
17:47In the film, Myrtle is played by actress Shirley Henderson.
17:58Henderson was born on November 24, 1965,
18:02and Chamber of Secrets began filming on November 19, 2001.
18:06This means that the squeaky-voiced 14-year-old we see in the film
18:10is actually a 36-year-old woman.
18:13Things get even weirder in Goblet of Fire
18:15as a near 40-year-old Henderson was hitting on the 15-year-old Daniel Radcliffe.
18:29In a film about sex crimes and sexy times,
18:31it was a deceptive high school student that ran the show.
18:34And given the provocative nature of John McNaughton's erotic thriller,
18:38it became increasingly clear that a then-unknown Denise Richards
18:41was a couple of years removed from senior prom.
18:47In fact, she was 27 years old at the time of the film's release.
18:51Playing the overtly sexualized Kelly Van Ryan,
18:55Richards steamed up the screen,
18:57as the plot revealed much more than just the character's love affair and scheming behavior.
19:09By the time Brian De Palma's iconic horror film reached theaters,
19:13his lead actress was just shy of her 27th birthday
19:17and perhaps best known for her role in the 1973 film Badlands.
19:22How's he doing?
19:28I got him in the stomach.
19:34Is he upset?
19:35But after Sissy Spacek's frightening turn as the social outcast Carrie White,
19:39well, nobody could forget her blood-curdling screams
19:42or even perhaps more so, her blood-drenched body.
19:46Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!
19:51Blessed with a youthful presence and schooled in method acting,
19:54at the famous Lee Strasberg's acting studio,
19:57Spacek stepped into the shoes of the strange puberty-stricken social outsider
20:01and effectively ravaged the psyches of frazzled moviegoers.
20:05I'm going.
20:09You can't stop me.
20:118. Winona Ryder – Girl, Interrupted
20:14Maybe I was just crazy.
20:18Maybe it was the 60s.
20:21Or maybe I was just a girl.
20:25Interrupted.
20:26While James Mangold's coming-of-age film featured a teenaged Elizabeth Moss
20:30long before her casting in Mad Men,
20:32the star of Girl, Interrupted was already in her late 20s
20:35and at the pinnacle of her career when she booked the role.
20:39Maybe everyone out there is a liar.
20:45And maybe the whole world is stupid and ignorant.
20:54But I'd rather be a human.
20:56Although years older than her on-screen counterpart,
20:59Winona Ryder's pristine appearance made her the ideal choice
21:02to play a disturbed yet talented 18-year-old Susanna Kaysen,
21:06the real-life woman on whom the film was based.
21:09Are you feeling depressed?
21:12I haven't exactly been a ball of joy, Melvin.
21:15With a young Angelina Jolie coming into her own,
21:18Girl, Interrupted was an important film for Hollywood leading ladies,
21:22but also reminded us of Ryder's timeless movie star charisma.
21:26Is that it?
21:287. Judd Nelson – The Breakfast Club
21:31Eat my shorts.
21:34Today, John Bender may seem like an over-the-top outcast to some.
21:38However, back in the mid-80s,
21:40he was the prototypical high school rebel
21:43that challenged his fellow breakfast clubbers to think outside the box.
21:47The man behind this whacked-out persona was a 25-year-old Judd Nelson
21:52in what was just his third feature film.
21:55Nothing to do when you're locked in a vacancy.
21:57Speak for yourself.
21:59Do you think I'd speak for you?
22:01I don't even know your language.
22:03Nelson would soon become associated with Hollywood's Brat Pack.
22:06But in The Breakfast Club,
22:07Nelson managed to combine a sense of James Dean cool
22:10with an intellect that made John Bender wise beyond his years.
22:14And that's because it was the truth.
22:16Being bad feels pretty good, huh?
22:196. Stacey Dash – Clueless
22:22Would you call me selfish?
22:24No, not to your face.
22:26Ten years after appearing as Denise's friend in The Cosby Show,
22:29Stacey Dash once again played a high school student.
22:32Albeit in less organic fashion,
22:34as she was 28 by the time the film hit theaters.
22:38Woman, why don't you be answering any of my pages?
22:40I hate when you call me woman.
22:41Where you been all weekend? What's up?
22:42You jeeping behind my back?
22:43Even so, the character of Dionne Davenport
22:46boasted a knack for both the Vogue and Valley Girl slang,
22:49all the while etching herself into the memories of admiring moviegoers.
22:53So? Shopping with Dr. Seuss?
22:56Well, at least I wouldn't skin a collie to make my backpack.
23:005. Andrew Garfield – The Amazing Spider-Man
23:03You a cop?
23:04Really? You seriously think I'm a cop?
23:07When Andrew Garfield was cast as your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man,
23:10North Americans scratched their heads
23:12and tried to figure out where exactly they'd seen him.
23:15Hey, it's Peter, right?
23:19Oh yeah, he was Eduardo Saverin from the social network.
23:22You have no idea what that's gonna mean to my father.
23:25A natural selection for the superhero film.
23:27However, at 27 years of age when filming began,
23:30Garfield had accumulated the necessary skills
23:33to exude the youthful charm and composure of one teenaged Peter Parker,
23:38while crawling his way directly to the bank.
23:41Just as Tobey Maguire did when tackling the role at 26 years of age for the 2002 film.
23:47You know who I am?
23:48I do.
23:49Your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.
23:534. Rachel McAdams – Mean Girls
23:58Get in loser, we're going shopping.
24:01The same year she made audiences weep thanks to The Notebook,
24:04Rachel McAdams first appeared in another cult classic playing Regina George,
24:09the supreme diva of the clique known as The Plastics.
24:12You're like really pretty.
24:15So you agree?
24:16What?
24:17You think you're really pretty.
24:18At 25 years of age, McAdams channeled her inner sass to corrupt a new arrival,
24:23and she was quite convincing as the blonde princess.
24:27She thinks she's gonna have a party and not invite me?
24:29Who does she think she is?
24:30You're right, hon.
24:31I like invented her, you know what I mean?
24:33By 2004, it had been a couple of years since McAdams had made her big screen debut,
24:38but it was Mean Girls that established McAdams
24:40as one of the emerging badass talents of the decade.
24:44I know, right?
24:463. Leonardo DiCaprio – Catch Me If You Can
24:49My name is Frank Taylor. I'm a co-pilot for Pan Am.
24:52I'd like to cash this check here, and then I'd like to take you out for a steak dinner.
24:58By 2002, Leonardo DiCaprio had entered the Scorsesean phase of his career,
25:03even if the world still viewed him as the pretty boy actor from Titanic.
25:07I'm the king of the world!
25:11To mark the beginning of a new era,
25:13the 28-year-old gave moviegoers two cinematic gifts,
25:17Gangs of New York and Catch Me If You Can,
25:20the latter a collaboration with Steven Spielberg,
25:23in which he played a teenage con artist.
25:26But the jump seat is open.
25:29You know, it's been a while since I've done this.
25:32Which one's the jump seat again?
25:35With prior too-old-to-be-a-teenager experience in The Basketball Diaries,
25:39DiCaprio managed to capture the same sense of unflappable, ignorant wonder
25:43in his role as real-life Frank Abagnale Jr.
25:53Matthew Broderick functioned as the obvious driving force behind Ferris Bueller's Day Off,
25:58but it was his depressive best friend that offered a healthy amount of comic relief.
26:02If you're not over here in 15 minutes, you can find a new best friend.
26:06You've been saying that since the fifth grade.
26:08About to turn 30 years old at the time of the film's premiere,
26:12Alan Ruck sported a clean-cut look and donned a Detroit Red Wings jersey
26:16to capture the essence of Cameron Frye,
26:19who was a kid dominated by fear and unaware of his true independence.
26:24Look, don't ask me to participate in your stupid crap if you don't like the way I do it.
26:28Life moves pretty fast in Hollywood,
26:30and despite this only being his third feature,
26:33Ruck stood his ground alongside a truly iconic performance.
26:37Ferris Bueller, you're my hero.
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26:59She released a dozen albums during the 70s,
27:02and everybody knows Olivia Newton-John for her iconic performance in the 1978 film, Grease.
27:16At almost 30 years of age, and yet still four years younger than co-star Stockard Channing,
27:21she starred as the unassuming blonde bombshell Sandy Olsen,
27:25a high school senior that charmed audiences with a sweetheart persona
27:28that was complemented by moments of leather-clad sensuality.
27:40With big hair, penetrating eyes, and an accent that would make any American high school kid drool,
27:46Olivia Newton-John represented the high school experience
27:49and the multitude of emotions that teenagers endure in this classic musical romantic comedy.
27:55Which actor do you think was most convincing as a teenager?
27:58Let us know in the comments.
28:03Did you enjoy this video?
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